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Overview

This solution involves creating a (hidden) directory in the /media/internal area (the USB media drive), moving selected applications to the newly created directory, and then creating a symbolic link in the /var/usr/palm/applications directory pointing to the new location. This frees up the disk space from the relatively limited /var volume to the larger /media/internal, allowing more apps to be installed from the App Catalog. The included script (which must be created) will move the files and create the appropriate link. It will also provide information on the size of the applications stored in the /var/usr/palm/applications directory.

^I've tried moving all to .apps and it appeared to work, hiding the pictures. I only did a quick test and need to test more to make sure, but it seemed to do the trick. Gonna go ahead and change the script to .app as it wont hurt.

This does not appear to resolve the issue of /media/internal being unmounted when put into media sync mode. Palm's USB driver appears to be going directly through /dev instead of doing a pass-through to the mounted partition.

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Originally Posted by Brain_ReCall

I'm an Embedded Software Engineer. My idea of a Good User Interface is printf().

This does not appear to resolve the issue of /media/internal being unmounted when put into media sync mode. Palm's USB driver appears to be going directly through /dev instead of doing a pass-through to the mounted partition.

I ran a few apps linked to /media/internal and then mounted USB while they were running. When finished, unmounted USB and the apps resumed normally. I did the same with apps on /var and didn't notice any difference.

This is probably more of an issue with linux based background services than with most user apps.

Is why I don't recommend linking all apps, just apps that test successfully.

I just tested this with Pandora moved and linked to /media/internal/.apps. While playing, I mounted the USB drive. Still played. Of course that app probably didn't need to do any access to the filesystem. Apps that do access their home app directory while in USB mode may of course run into an issue.

This is not something for the total noob. I don't think you'll hose your machine, but you could very easily end up burning a lot of space not only on the /media/internal area (the USB disk space area), but also in the /var partition, which is limited enough as it is (which is the root of the problem). I'd say this is for an intermediate level user, and it does require root access.

I'll also warn that I have not tested every aspect of the script. Use all of this information at your own risk, and please double check stuff, as it does very much appear to be a "work in progress".

All that said, here's the basics:

This workaround has you create a hidden directory - .apps - (please note the "." before "apps", that's what makes it hidden) in the /media/internal directory on your Pre. This is basically the USB drive, and has a lot more space than the /var partition (where apps are normally stored). You then copy some apps to that directory, and create a symbolic link to the new directory. Every program I've tested this with works, so far. This has cleared up a lot of additional space for me.

Please look over the information provided in a the link, move slowly, and double-check what you've done; however, I think some of you will find this useful until Palm does something about the size of the /var partition.

Just wanted to mention, a future version of WebOSQuickInstall will be including the experimental memory resizing or /var/ (though in the process would wipe /media/internal/ so ppl would need to backup those files first). People have reported success, though I have been told by Chuq that it's very possible a future update would cause issues (leading me to believe Palm is taking this issue more seriously now that the app catalog is growing more.

Um...nice, but are you guys serious? I mean....this helps the 0.00000001% of Pre users who are willing to learn Unix shell programming and Linux to fix their Pre's with their own customized scripts...LOL.

This is great for developers or programmers who want to learn how to program this thing, but come on...really.

Um...nice, but are you guys serious? I mean....this helps the 0.00000001% of Pre users who are willing to learn Unix shell programming and Linux to fix their Pre's with their own customized scripts...LOL.

This is great for developers or programmers who want to learn how to program this thing, but come on...really.